After a couple weeks of being gone, I'm back! Y'all (all 2 of you who read my blog) missed me didn't you?
These past couple weeks have been pretty busy (beware of a long post coming so I can tell you all about it!) Hubby and I made a mad dash for St. Louis to attend his grandfather's funeral. I've never planned a trip in 8 days and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do that again. I don't think my sanity could take it.
Even though the St. Louis trip was for a pretty sad reason, we ended up having a great time. We arrived in St. Louis on Thursday the 8th and met our bestest friends as well as Eric's dad and nephew Evan. We all went out and met Eric's sister then had a LATE dinner (or was it an early breakfast?)
Friday we had to run a few errands (I didn't pack shampoo or conditioner for fear of TSA confiscating it) and then we went back to Eric's dad's home to get ready for the viewing. As I was going through my suitcase I realized (this was only a little over an hour before we had to be at the funeral home) that I had forgotten my black dress slacks. Let's just say I had a minor melt down. I'm not one to cry over a minor thing like that, however all the stress that had piled on me from the planning of said trip kinda came on me at that very moment. All I had were jeans and I did NOT want to wear jeans to a formal funeral. I didn't want to make Eric look bad in front of his family. Thankfully, Eric's sister came to the rescue and drove me to shopping center so I could find a new pair of pants. I've never shopped so quickly in my life. I grabbed the first pair of black pants I could find and tried them on. Miracles of all miracles, they fit!!! Let me tell you, it is RARE that I find a pair of pants that fits so well. Being almost 6 feet tall, a normal pair of pants looks like capris on me. I kept the pants on and the girls at the counter cut off all the tags and rang me up. I paid and was out the door in less than 15 minutes, wearing a new pair of pants that, in my humble opinion, look fantastic on me. After that, we rushed to the funeral home to make the viewing.
Now, I have to say, I have never been to a formal funeral. All the services I have been to in my life have been more of a "memorial" service. The people who have died have already been buried and the services are more of a celebration of their life. So you could imagine how, for lack of a better word, uncomfortable I was when I walked into the room and there grandpa was, laying peacefully in his coffin. Eric went up to pay his last respects and I stood back. I couldn't muster any courage to go up and look. I instead put my focus on a video that was playing in the background. Eric's Aunt put a video together of many pictures that were taken in the years grandpa was alive. I could tell, just by the pictures that grandpa Schroder was fun man. He always had a smile on his face and from the pictures, you could tell his grandkids loved him. There were also many pictures of grandpa and grandma Schroder (she passed away a few years ago) and they were always holding hands or kissing. Eric said they had a great relationship. They bickered like normal couples, but they really loved each other and you could really tell from their pictures. Eric said that his grandpa was half deaf and his grandma was half blind, so together they made a great team!
At the viewing, I was able to meet many of Eric's family members. They are all wonderful people and I really enjoyed getting to know some of his cousins. After the viewing, a bunch of us went out to eat. Again, it was a really late night, but we had fun visiting with the family.
Saturday was the funeral and it was what I expected. The preacher went up and read scripture and talked about how grandpa really loved the Lord and enjoyed serving in the church. After she spoke, we sang some hymns (I know mom, HYMNS!!) prayed, and then we moved on to the procession to the burial site. The burial part of the funeral was very short. Part of the reason was because it was 23 degrees outside (BRRRRR!!!) and the other part was that the cemetery closed at noon and it was already 11:30. If we didn't want grandpa to stay outside over night, we had to boogy through the service so the cemetery could do their job and bury him. Really, who heard of a cemetery closing at noon on a Saturday?! Aren't MOST funerals held on Saturdays so that people can actually go and pay their last respects? I thought that was kind of odd. After the funeral was officially over, we went out to eat again, and they every one went their separate ways. As I said before, even though the reason for getting together with family was a sad reason. I was glad I could finally meet Eric's extended family. They are a bunch of nice people and I'm glad to be related to them.
Since this post is getting kinda long, I will separate the rest of our trip. Hopefully by then I can get some pictures loaded.
These past couple weeks have been pretty busy (beware of a long post coming so I can tell you all about it!) Hubby and I made a mad dash for St. Louis to attend his grandfather's funeral. I've never planned a trip in 8 days and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do that again. I don't think my sanity could take it.
Even though the St. Louis trip was for a pretty sad reason, we ended up having a great time. We arrived in St. Louis on Thursday the 8th and met our bestest friends as well as Eric's dad and nephew Evan. We all went out and met Eric's sister then had a LATE dinner (or was it an early breakfast?)
Friday we had to run a few errands (I didn't pack shampoo or conditioner for fear of TSA confiscating it) and then we went back to Eric's dad's home to get ready for the viewing. As I was going through my suitcase I realized (this was only a little over an hour before we had to be at the funeral home) that I had forgotten my black dress slacks. Let's just say I had a minor melt down. I'm not one to cry over a minor thing like that, however all the stress that had piled on me from the planning of said trip kinda came on me at that very moment. All I had were jeans and I did NOT want to wear jeans to a formal funeral. I didn't want to make Eric look bad in front of his family. Thankfully, Eric's sister came to the rescue and drove me to shopping center so I could find a new pair of pants. I've never shopped so quickly in my life. I grabbed the first pair of black pants I could find and tried them on. Miracles of all miracles, they fit!!! Let me tell you, it is RARE that I find a pair of pants that fits so well. Being almost 6 feet tall, a normal pair of pants looks like capris on me. I kept the pants on and the girls at the counter cut off all the tags and rang me up. I paid and was out the door in less than 15 minutes, wearing a new pair of pants that, in my humble opinion, look fantastic on me. After that, we rushed to the funeral home to make the viewing.
Now, I have to say, I have never been to a formal funeral. All the services I have been to in my life have been more of a "memorial" service. The people who have died have already been buried and the services are more of a celebration of their life. So you could imagine how, for lack of a better word, uncomfortable I was when I walked into the room and there grandpa was, laying peacefully in his coffin. Eric went up to pay his last respects and I stood back. I couldn't muster any courage to go up and look. I instead put my focus on a video that was playing in the background. Eric's Aunt put a video together of many pictures that were taken in the years grandpa was alive. I could tell, just by the pictures that grandpa Schroder was fun man. He always had a smile on his face and from the pictures, you could tell his grandkids loved him. There were also many pictures of grandpa and grandma Schroder (she passed away a few years ago) and they were always holding hands or kissing. Eric said they had a great relationship. They bickered like normal couples, but they really loved each other and you could really tell from their pictures. Eric said that his grandpa was half deaf and his grandma was half blind, so together they made a great team!
At the viewing, I was able to meet many of Eric's family members. They are all wonderful people and I really enjoyed getting to know some of his cousins. After the viewing, a bunch of us went out to eat. Again, it was a really late night, but we had fun visiting with the family.
Saturday was the funeral and it was what I expected. The preacher went up and read scripture and talked about how grandpa really loved the Lord and enjoyed serving in the church. After she spoke, we sang some hymns (I know mom, HYMNS!!) prayed, and then we moved on to the procession to the burial site. The burial part of the funeral was very short. Part of the reason was because it was 23 degrees outside (BRRRRR!!!) and the other part was that the cemetery closed at noon and it was already 11:30. If we didn't want grandpa to stay outside over night, we had to boogy through the service so the cemetery could do their job and bury him. Really, who heard of a cemetery closing at noon on a Saturday?! Aren't MOST funerals held on Saturdays so that people can actually go and pay their last respects? I thought that was kind of odd. After the funeral was officially over, we went out to eat again, and they every one went their separate ways. As I said before, even though the reason for getting together with family was a sad reason. I was glad I could finally meet Eric's extended family. They are a bunch of nice people and I'm glad to be related to them.
Since this post is getting kinda long, I will separate the rest of our trip. Hopefully by then I can get some pictures loaded.
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